STORMY, DUE PROCESS AND SYRIA

I’m baaack! Perhaps, you didn’t know or care that I was “gone” for a while, but I was out of commission for a couple of weeks due to surgery. At this point, I feel compelled to catch up on a few items at once by opining on what I consider to be a few particularly troublesome matters that developed during my absence. As you can glean from the title of this blog I have taken the liberty of combining three separate topics into one blog.

Firstly is the misplaced values of the media. In order for our system of government to function as the Founding Fathers intended the media must be objective, fair and skeptical.

Unfortunately, much, if not most, of the media has been so blinded by its irrational hatred of President Trump that it has become substantially out of touch with the pulse of the public. I’m not only referring to what some have labeled “fake news.” I realize that characterization is debatable depending on one’s political leanings. Rather, I am referring to the media’s “pushing” stories they feel cast President Trump in a negative light and downplaying other more significant issues.

There have been innumerable examples of this over the last 18 months, which, due to space and time limitations, I will not reiterate here. Consider, however, the latest example – the treatment of the Stormy Daniels matter.

What do you think the most significant issue is for the US at the present time, Stormy Daniels’ salacious accusations regarding President Trump, or the war in Syria, or, perhaps, the erosion of due process?

On the one hand, we have a woman rather generously described as an “adult film actress” revealing she had a relationship with President Trump before he even began to campaign for office. Somehow, her salacious and rather irrelevant story merits extensive news coverage, including slots on 60 Minutes and Anderson Cooper. Big yawn! I say, who cares what Mr. Trump did or did not do with Daniels before he even thought about running for President? Hello! He was a billionaire businessman with an ego and a libido. Private matter.

Do you really care about this story? I don’t, and according to the latest Quinnipiac survey, neither do 77% of the American public. We did not elect Mr. Trump for his moral character. Additionally, the story has not affected the President’s approval ratings. The only person this story hurts is Melania, who unfortunately, has become collateral damage.

Secondly, most of the media is overlooking the significance of the FBI’s raid on Michael Cohen’s law office. Cohen is Mr. Trump’s personal attorney on the Daniels case. Ostensibly, the FBI was seeking evidence relating to the Daniels case, but it also seized other records as well. Moreover, Politico reports that the FBI ordered Cohen to disclose his full client list. Many lawyers, such as the renowned Alan Deshowitz, are concerned that this action constituted a blatant attack on attorney-client privilege as guaranteed by the due process provision of the Bill of Rights. I am not an attorney, but it concerns me. It should concern everyone regardless of one’s political leanings, because it creates a slippery slope that could affect anyone of us next.

Last, but not least, is Syria. We are faced with a rapidly escalating war in the most volatile region in the world in which innocent women and children are being gassed and which has a realistic potential of escalating into a direct confrontation between the US and Russia. Most of us would agree that the use of chemical weapons is intolerable, but there is disagreement as to what to do about it. Some even doubt that Assad was the perpetrator. The choices appear to be (1) do nothing, it’s not our fight; or (2) retaliate with bombardment or some other military or economic action of varying severity. There are plusses and minuses and room for legitimate debate regarding any action or non-action.

Anyway you slice it, however, Cohen and Syria are far more significant than Daniels and yet until yesterday had been receiving far less media coverage. The Cohen matter chips away at the constitutionally-guaranteed civil rights of ALL of us, and the Syria situation has the potential to bring us closer to nuclear war that at any time since the 1961 Cuban Missile Crisis. (It would not surprise me if half of Americans do not even know where Syria is.)

CONCLUSION

Last night the US carried out a targeted, surgical strike against various of Syria’s chemical weapons facilities. Mr. Trump acted in the best way he could under the circumstances..

He made sure he had the moral high ground.

It was a surgical, targeted strike with no or minimal collateral damage.

He acted with the concurrence of our European and Middle East allies.

It was not a solo action. Other countries, such as the UK and France actively participated.

He sent the best message to Assad and others of his ilk that certain heinous actions will not be tolerated.

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One thought on “STORMY, DUE PROCESS AND SYRIA”

I’m concerned that you may have misunderstood the import of the “Stormy Daniels” story. Agree, don’t care what they did, except insofar as it’s a sign of moral decrepitude. But Trump’s lack of moral rectitude is well known. However, that is not the issue at all! The issue is- the payment to purchase her silence, 2 weeks before the election, can’t be seen as anything other than a payment to influence an election. Is that also fine with you??? Or is it “fake news?” I think we should all avoid the slippery slope of forgiving little misdeeds. Violating campaign finance regulations is wrong!